The Importance Of Sexually Transmitted Infections

A sexually transmitted infection is an infection that is transmitted through sexual contact (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). If someone has an infection, they can pass it to another individual by participating in sexual acts with that person (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). Sexually transmitted infections are also called sexually transmitted diseases, also known as STIs or STDs (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). Sexually transmitted infections can be spread in more ways than just sexual intercourse (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). The infections can be spread through genital touching but also during vaginal, anal, and oral sex. However, not all sexually transmitted infections are spread in the same ways (“Sexually Transmitted …show more content…
Many of the sexually transmitted infections either have mild symptoms or no symptoms (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). Screening for sexually transmitted infections is important because the infections are sometimes mistaken to be other health issues such as urinary tract infections and yeast infections (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). Bacterial Vaginosis is a sexually transmitted infection that can have no symptoms or women could experience vaginal itching, pain while urinating, and/or bad smelling discharge (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). Chlamydia is another sexually transmitted infection that usually does not have symptoms, but for women who have symptoms they can experience burning while urinating, bleeding between periods, and abnormal discharge (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). If Chlamydia is not treated it can lead to lower back pain, nausea, fever, lower abdominal pain, and pain during sex (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). HIV is a very well-known and common sexually transmitted infection. There are women who experience no symptoms for more than 10 years after receiving HIV, so it can be hard to detect (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). The symptoms, even many years after being infected, can be fevers, fatigue, weight loss, headaches, diarrhea, dry cough, flaky skin, short-term memory loss, and more (“Sexually Transmitted …show more content…
Sexually transmitted infections can become a big risk for a pregnant woman and her baby (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). Having a sexually transmitted infection can be threatening to the unborn baby’s well-being and can potentially cause early labor (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). The infection can also be passed to the baby before it is born or during the birth of the baby (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). A dangerous sexually transmitted infection that a baby could be given is HIV. Some of the possible harmful effects to the baby could be low birth weight, deafness, blindness, brain damage, chronic liver disease, and could even be a stillbirth (“Sexually Transmitted Infections”). Syphilis that is left untreated is dangerous for pregnant women and infants (“STD Trends”). 40% of infants die that had mothers who had untreated syphilis while pregnant (“STD